1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to methods and apparatus for the development of software, and more particularly to a method and apparatus that includes at least one user interaction which is executable using a web, voice, e-mail or wireless channel
2. Description of the Related Art
The Internet has become a major channel for companies to conduct business. A wide range of business transactions including business to business, business to consumers, auctions, reverse auctions and vertical networks of businesses have driven growth. The unique aspects of this digital connectivity has spurred new forms of commerce transactions, eliminated geographic and time zone constraints, placed suppliers and customers in direct contact and essentially transformed the landscape of commerce. The speed of this transformation and the radical impact this has had on company fortunes has pushed businesses to rapidly recognize and re-engineer themselves, internally and externally with customers/suppliers, to get on the net.
The application of incorporating the web as a legitimate business channel has been a real struggle for most companies. Businesses have had to balance the pressures to ‘get on the net’ quickly against a long list of issues such as—what part of the company should get on the net first, how should this happen, developing an overall strategy for getting the entire company on the net, website design, connections to internal computer applications and applications, training, marketing/brand implications and significant ignorance of web technology and what e-commerce really mean. At one end of the spectrum, some companies have simply put up a website with basic company information (brochure-ware sites) and at the other end companies have defined and implemented comprehensive e-commerce strategies.
The complexities of defining what and how business will be conducted at the company website along with the intricacies of implementing the website and the myriad connections to internal applications has made the entire application extremely difficult to manage. A typical website implementation team consists of a few business domain experts but is largely dominated by web designers, content developers, database architects, middleware and other IT specialists. Given the large Web and IT focus on a typical e-commerce project, there is reduced emphasis on a clear definition of the business rules that must be implemented, disconnects between what the website implements and the required business application and most importantly, the inability of the website to respond quickly to business application/rule changes. This has resulted in companies changing business applications to accommodate website design and frustrated customers who do not understand the underlying business application and the critical connection between how the site must be used to get results.
There is a need for an efficient method for implementing websites based on clearly defined business rules and enable business objectives and business application capabilities to drive website implementation. There is another need for a method and apparatus creating software that eliminates the need for complex technical programming and maintenance for websites. There is a further need for a method and apparatus for creating software that defines complex business rules with a simple set of constructs.